By Zephyria 
“……”
After a moment of silence, I quietly sat up and glared at him. He seemed particularly persistent today. But it wasn’t bad for him to use the wish. I was wondering when he was going to keep it like a trump card, but… he’s going to waste it on something so useless.
For me, it was something to welcome. In the first place, my pride wouldn’t allow me to break a promise I had once made.
Let’s just let him get away with it once.
With that thought, I let out a small sigh.
“Do as you please.”
Ardian faintly smiled, pulling up the corners of his lips. No words were exchanged in between. As he moved his body and came a little closer, the sound of the blanket rustling was particularly loud.
He gently cupped my cheeks and briefly made eye contact with me right in front of my face. If he was going to do it, he should just do it quickly and end it, but… it was so uncomfortably lingering that it was hard to stay still, so I eventually lowered my eyes. In fact, I was the one who avoided his gaze first.
Ardian stroked my cheeks a few times with his fingertips, then tilted his head.
The moment I felt his breath getting closer. A warm and soft lump of flesh lightly landed on my lips and fell off. Then, he pecked at my upper and lower lips as if a baby bird was pecking with its beak, and weakly bit and pulled my lower lip.
After holding my chin and naturally opening it, Ardian put his tongue into the slightly opened gap and touched the soft inside of my mouth. When I reflexively moved as an unfamiliar sensation touched my tongue, lumps of flesh intertwined with each other in my mouth. Moist and warm breaths passed between the interlocked lips. The sensation of the saliva-soaked tongue swimming around in my mouth like it was playing and the lumps of flesh rubbing against each other was so unfamiliar.
It should just be that kind of act.
My body was strangely hot and my mood was strange too.
Even to me, who didn’t know anything, he was acting very skillfully, so there was nothing uncomfortable, but for some reason, I felt a sense of suffocation and an urge to escape.
My hand, which had unconsciously gone up, touched the front. My hand, which had touched Ardian’s chest, tried to push him away, but Ardian gently grabbed and pulled away that hand, slowly stroking it from my wrist to my elbow. As the warmth of his palm went over my back and waist, the parts that were touching started to get hotter than usual, as if it was contagious.
Heut. That kind of sound seemed to come out. It was a sound that I never thought would come out of my mouth. A moment of shame arose, but I was too swept up in Ardian’s pace to pay attention to other things. Even after that, he stirred around in my mouth for a long time, turned his head, kissed me one more time, and clung to me, but at some point, he completely fell away.
Ardian’s lips, which were looking at me with dazed eyes right in front of my face, were moist and felt redder than usual. I hadn’t noticed, but he was already almost hugging me. While I was catching my shaky breath and unknowingly looking at his lips, those pretty lips moved.
From there, a voice that couldn’t hide its excitement flowed out in a soft voice.
“How was it?”
Only then did I lift my eyes and meet his. His eyes were folding like crescent moons as he looked at me, as if he had seen through my inner thoughts, so I couldn’t say anything.
…I definitely only thought it was a dirty act.
I had to feel a sense of defeat to him anyway because I realized that the filthy act was a more pleasant act than I thought and caused an excitement that I couldn’t understand. But on the other hand, I was also curious about what exactly was causing this excitement, which stimulated my curiosity.
Completely, I was caught up in what this guy wanted.
When I slightly frowned, Ardian’s head tilted as he stared at me intently as if urging me to answer. I glared at him and pushed away his shoulder, which was stuck to me.
“It wasn’t good after all.”
Then, I turned around and covered my head with the blanket. I heard Ardian laughing softly behind my back, but I stubbornly ignored it. Then, he must have been trying to sleep too, because I heard the sound of him spreading out the blanket and lying down.
“Good night, Ray.”
Those words were definitely a curse. Even until his movements, which had been fidgeting a little, subsided, I couldn’t fall asleep and had to spend the night with my eyes open.
☠
The next morning.
The children who woke up early took the Gate that Polargehen, who had recovered his physical condition, had opened and returned to school.
Of course, this incident was a serious matter that couldn’t be covered up, so it became known to the outside world, and starting with the parents’ ears, it spread quickly, and soon the entire empire was shaken. School classes were temporarily suspended, and the parents’ complaints about the academy were getting worse day by day. Since many children of nobles also attended the school, their voices were even louder.
The family of this body was no exception.
They seemed to be trying to actively use their reputation and position, so they even went to the academy in person. Yes, right there. The group that was entering the main gate with dignity was a member of the Valentasia family, the family of this body.
“That’s Duke Valentasia!”
“It’s my first time seeing him in person.”
The children who had come out to see the members of the prestigious family who had come in person to worry about their son’s safety were sending envious glances. When I glanced back, I saw many people peeking out from inside the school.
I turned my head slightly again and looked at Polargehen, who was standing next to me. Polargehen, who had come to the main gate with me to greet the guests who had come from afar, seemed to be feeling quite nervous, as if he was feeling responsible for this incident… especially for me.
Around that time, the family was approaching right in front of me. Maximun glanced at me once and then reached out his hand towards Polargehen.
“Nice to meet you. Professor Polazhen Grenta.”
“Yes. First, let’s talk slowly inside.”
After shaking hands, Polargehen gestured to me with his eyes and turned towards the central hall. It seemed that he wanted to have a detailed conversation in the professor’s office.
As I followed behind Polargehen, the family of this body quietly followed behind. They maintained their dignified public image without talking outside, but as soon as they entered the lobby where there were almost no eyes watching, Esili and Leshnold took their places on either side of me as if they had been waiting.
“Ray, I heard you were targeted again.”
“Did anything happen? Are you hurt anywhere?”
While pinching and rubbing my perfectly fine cheeks, and lifting my arms, they were making a fuss on both sides. Their faces were definitely serious and grave, but their actions were strangely irritating. So, I glared at them, and they smiled slightly as if relieved. Just as I was about to say something, Polargehen, who had arrived at the faculty room, let the group inside and said,
“I’ll bring some tea. Please, sit comfortably.”
While he moved busily, my family and I sat facing each other on the sofa. Perhaps because Maximun and Luciel, who were sitting across from me, had stiff expressions, the atmosphere was very heavy. Suddenly, Luciel looked at me and said,
“Ray, the Academy… do you really have to go?”
When I met her gaze without a word, she continued,
“You can learn Magic without attending the Academy. You are, after all, the son of our proud Valencia family. You can live safely and prosperously in a sufficiently blessed educational environment, yet you are constantly getting caught up in these dangerous situations… This mother is so worried.”
It seemed they thought I had enrolled solely out of a desire to learn Magic. But my purpose from the start was to mingle among the humans and gather information.
I hadn’t anticipated being exposed to such dangers, but I didn’t want to hide because of it. So, my answer was naturally a refusal. There was no need to think about it further. Even though that was clear, I felt the full weight of her worries, and the words wouldn’t come out easily.
At that moment, Polargehen interrupted, serving tea to each of us.
“As a parent, I fully understand your concerns, but from my perspective… I hope you will allow Raymond to continue staying at this Academy.”
All eyes turned to Polargehen. The gazes were uniformly cold, as if something would happen if he misspoke.
He sat at the head of the table, meeting each gaze one by one as he spoke. Despite the pressure, he showed no signs of shrinking back.
“Raymond’s Mana Heart… that is a talent. You all know how brilliant that talent is. Raymond is a being who can shine even brighter. It would be a waste to bury him in the dirt.”
“For whom should he shine, exactly?”
“For himself.”
Polargehen’s eyes sparkled as he turned to look at me.
Was he perhaps recalling the conversation we had about aiming for the Black Class? In any case, I didn’t mind how things were unfolding, so I remained silent. It seemed my body’s family, not knowing how to take Polargehen’s words, murmured and seemed to agree with him.
“……”
The fact that they were discussing me amongst themselves when my true purpose was so far removed was truly amusing.